Sparks
by OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: Between Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Kairi spend some friendship time with each other at Kairi's house. It's all great... except for Kairi's in love with Sora, and he hasn't a clue. But it's still all fun for Kairi, as long as she has him (and Riku) in her life.


Kairi looked up from the hands she'd been staring at, as she sat on the couch, and tried to decide if she should have been acting like such a bro to Sora.

At the moment, they were playing video games together—in her messy apartment, since she'd just emancipated as things had gotten bad with the mayor—and it was only in recently realizing that she loved him, that Kairi thought she may have been sabotaging herself this way.

And what if… what if he never returned her feelings because of this?

If he didn't… it was no biggie: Kairi would be his companion forever and always, and would be thankful for that.

…And yet, her heart yearned for the other.

The optimistic part of Kairi—the Princess of Heart—wanted to believe that Sora could fall for her… because Xion acted much this way. And she had, perhaps, been Sora's ideal version of her… hadn't she?

…But Kairi had been to lost in her thoughts here. And Sora must have noticed this—for just as she'd gone to bite one of her nails, Sora calmly asked: "Wha'chu doing, Kairi? Trying to decide if yer gonna give our pepperoni here to your boss?"

…Oh. Sometimes Kairi did do that, yes (and she thought it might have been a good sign that Sora noticed this, so she settled into her seat better with a soft smile warming her face).

At work, she would often microwave pizza and rip said items off. But when her supervisor had noticed that she did this, she had asked Kairi if she could eat them… Which Kairi was only now seeing could be construed as a bad thing, in some areas. But she had a heart of pure light, so of course she'd agreed.

And as it happened, Sora and Kairi were eating pizza now—Kairi had just paused, in trying to figure out how she might romanticize the situation—and he must have thought she was distracted because of that weird dilemma.

And now Kairi was stuck, pondering what to do: She wanted to be honorable—if that was the correct word for it—but she didn't want to seem weak for so easily giving in to an employer she'd once disliked, either.

Kairi knew for sure that if it had been Riku asking her the question, she would have said that she wouldn't do it.

But this was Sora… who had always admired her kindness… and her trying to do things, even when she probably shouldn't.

So, if she wanted to remain in his favor, then… Maybe she should choose to be too selfless, oddly enough.

"I- I think so," Kairi announced, just as she did some impressive platforming in Frogger and got to the next level even before Sora. "…But I'm also imagining ripping the cheese off this pizza and studying it—and the sauce and bread that was chosen—so I can recreate it myself, and just give her a whole one of mine. Homemade is always the best. Y'know?"

Sora looked at Kairi then… And there was something in his eyes—dropping his controller and not caring about his point at all, as he did so—that Kairi couldn't figure how to put into words: But maybe it was similar to how he'd gazed at her when she'd pulled both him and Riku out of the Realm of Darkness.

But that couldn't be… right?

Kairi had thought Sora had fallen in love with her during his second journey… but every instance after it, he'd been so distant: They didn't even sit close enough that any of their body parts could even remotely brush against each other's anymore.

"Kairi… that's _too_good of you," Sora seemed to finally settle on, as he got over whatever epiphany he'd been having: a certain catch in his voice as he did speak. "…It's enough you give her the pepperonis you just happen to make during your break. But why would jou go ta the trouble of baking a pizza, just so she has_fresh_pepperonis to steal?"

Kairi knew that Sora didn't mean "steal" the way that Riku would have here… But the fact remained, that Sora did somewhat see all of this as criminal in some regard.

And not for the first time, Kairi wondered if this was how the other princesses felt when their prince's saw enough in them to change their entire lives for them after having sensed their light.

Except Kairi had never really felt that light, and she most certainly didn't now.

In her mind, this wasn't a big deal at all. So, as she reached out and put a reassuring hand on Sora's arm, she meant to let him know that. "…I mean, it's _not_all rainbows and butterflies for me, Sora… I actually once… hated her for how she treated me. So, what I'm doing now, since I actually like her, is to sort of make up for that."

And Kairi could tell immediately that Sora was taken aback by this, for even when Kairi had been a bit scared of Riku she'd never even hated him for the more… troubling things he'd done.

And even though Sora had heard Kairi complain about Iggy before… he must have had no idea that her feelings against her had ever been strong… And, perhaps, he was even likewise amazed that she'd put it behind her so effortlessly to be able to do _this_.

A beat passed, as some rice—of all things—fell from Kairi's ceiling fan, from a cooking disaster she had had not too long ago, but neither of them noticed or cared.

And mayhap the two youths even relished in it, because it reminded them of snow…

"Kairi…"

Sora's face was very close to hers now (the game and TV completely forgotten, as both turned off on their own), and he seemed to be leaning in—as the cushion he was on, almost gave way beneath the knees suddenly digging into it:

But that didn't seem to deter Sora at all—and it might have ended up being the moment they'd (Kairi'd) been waiting on for so long, if at that exact instant someone hadn't knocked on the door bringing them Chinese.

Kairi jumped over the back of the couch like a pro—how many times had she jumped over the damaged part of the bridge on the Play Island, after all?—and politely got the food, and paid and tipped the man like a pro.

But as her head caught up with her heart, she'd be debating how the heck they'd even gotten Chinese:

She and Sora had just eaten pizza, and _Kairi _certainly hadn't ordered this. And she was pretty sure that Sora hadn't, either…

Riku was coming over later, and might have done this—so he'd be sure to have something to eat when he got here—but it still rang suspicious to Kairi.

Just earlier today, she had watched a movie where girl singers had been sitting around eating Chinese… and then saw a shooting star, and wished for their greatest dream on it.

And as she'd witnessed the scene, Kairi had found herself wanting something like that to happen for her (again)…

What she wouldn't have given, to be able to go back to when all of the stars had been returning to the sky and to wish on all of them that Sora and Riku could come home earlier than they had...

Gracefully handing the food to Sora—as she made her way back to him—Kairi motioned with rapid hand movements like Sora's own usual ones, that he should partake in the crab Rangoon or egg rolls.

They were both too full for the chicken, beef, or rice. But maybe a few snackies would do… Since they were still a bit hungry, but wouldn't get another piece of pizza, since neither of them wanted to seem too fat.

As the two sat back down together, Kairi found the courage to lean her head on Sora's shoulder—the way she had when she'd wanted just a bit longer with him in the underground cavern, and had told Sora she was always with him once more just for some excuse to do that—and to Sora's credit, he didn't pull away or seem appalled in the slightest.

"So… there's a mini-mission the King wants me to go on, Kai… I didn't tell you, because I know how ya feel about it. 'pparently some faeries that can turn into mermaids are wreaking havoc. And the King's worried about it, since faeries have ties to keys… The Keyblade.

"…Anyway, I'm telling you all because I want you to come with Riku and me. I mean, with your name you have more ability to reason with them than me. And it should be simple… and I should be able ta keep you safe."

And just like that—just as Riku finally made his way into Kairi's home—Kairi felt the sun rise on her life, just when she thought it had been setting.

She'd been so fearful that Sora was going to tell her that he was leaving again… maybe forever, if this Island couldn't hold his heart anymore.

But, no… But he wanted her to go with them, because I saw something in her that he didn't in himself.

And with the talk of the multiverse again, Kairi realized how selfish she had been to be wanting eros love with Sora.

…And yet, what if she hadn't been wrong to be hopeful?

As her ceiling fan sparked above her, to cast her and Sora both in light as he smiled at her… she thought it could have been a clue.

**Author's Note: I actually have more of this story done, too, if anyone wants more of it.**

**So, this was actually inspired by a SoXion story I wrote once… I don't really like SoXion, and was just doing it for a friend (and it never ended up seeing the light of day, anyway…). But sometimes when I run out of ideas for SoKai, I imagine Kairi being influenced by her Others Naminé and Xion (since they are somewhat a part of her and some reflection of who she is), and try to make a story from them there. Usually, I do the former one for obvious reasons (Nami's canonically more Kairi than Xion is)… but this was def me trying to write SoKai in a SoXion-y way (in the only way I've figured how to write SoXion again—not that I ever will again—which is like the main couple in He's Just Not That Into You). But I think it kind of works for SoKai here, since KHIII now acts like Sora didn't realize he was in love with her until the end of that game. And surely they had normal, friend-y moments like in this. Yeah…**


End file.
